Page 7 - ABF Newsletter April 2025

With partner showing a 6-5 in the reds, Sophie did well to value her ]AK and stiff heart highly. After she bid the slam, she preemptively apologised to her partner: “Sorry I think I’ve gone a bit mental”. With the ]Q onside, the 23-point slam rolled home and Gosney ended up taking all the tricks. Plus 940 was worth 11 imps with the other table stopping in 3NT.
Board 31. Dealer South. East-West vulnerable.
]A4
[72
}52 {AKQ9864
Board 17. Dealer North. North-South vulnerable.
]A9
[ K 10 8 6 }8632 {AQ5
]KJ643 {J1098 [7
}AKJ75
{62
NORTH EAST SOUTH Mill Ashton Coutts
1{ pass 1] 1NT pass 3} 3[ pass 3NT
]J7632
[Q93 [K854 }QJ }9764 {J53 ]KQ8 {102
[AJ106 }AK1083 {7
Sophie led the {J to the king and ace. When Mill played three rounds of diamonds, Sophie discarded the ]8, then the {10. Later, Mill found himself need- ing three spade tricks in the following ending:
WEST NORTH Johannsson Gosney
pass 2{ pass 3{ pass 4{ pass 4NT 2 pass 5NT 4 all pass
1. Control bid.
2. RKCB.
3. Two keycards without the trump queen. 4. Asking for kings.
Gosney, having bid clubs three times, bid 5NT to confirm all the keycards. Opposite at least six solid trumps and the ]A, Sophie could count 12 tricks, plus the possibility of setting up a long diamond, so she bid the grand, undeterred by her singleton trump! 7{ was lay down on a 3-2 trump break, and brought in 9 imps when their opponents stopped in 6NT. They ended up winning this final by 39 imps.
Since then Sophie has won many national titles, in- cluding four GNOTs, three SNOTs, three NOTs, one Open ANC and one Women’s ANC. She is the reign- ing back-to-back champion of the Spring Nationals, and will be looking to three-peat this October. One of Sophie’s favourite events is the National Open Teams, which she won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. She attributes some of her success in this event to the fact that it is in Canberra, making it only an hour drive away from home, causing her the least amount of disruption to her usual schedule.
In 2022, Sophie played the ANC on the NSW Open team with Liam Milne. Here’s a board from the nail-biting final against a strong Victorian team:
EAST McCallum
SOUTH Ashton
1} 2[ 3NT 4}1 5[3
] 10 9 5
pass
pass
pass
pass
pass 7{
When he called for a spade from dummy, Milne carefully inserted
]A9 [108 }— {5
] 10 7 [QJ53 } Q 10 9 {K743
WEST Milne
pass pass all pass
]Q852 [A942 }4
the ten. Potentially persuaded
by the early ]8 discard, per-
haps from four-small, Justin
played for Liam to have
started with queen-ten
doubleton. Spade to the ace
and king was one off, and a well- {—
earned 12 imps to NSW for a crafty defence. This match came down to the last board, with NSW win- ning by a mere 4 imps.
This year will not be Sophie’s first experience rep- resenting Australia. In 2023 she played the Wuhan Cup on the Mixed Team in Marrakesh with regular partner Dave Wiltshire. The team performed well in an incredibly tough field, and after 18 of 23 rounds they were ninth, only 0.93 VP outside of the top eight. Unfortunately a mediocre last few rounds left them finishing in twelfth place.
Sophie describes international events as much tougher than anything you find in Australia. The level of play is higher, the long qualifying events are gru- eling and the pressure to perform while representing your country is immense. She wishes she had more exposure to international competition, and feels that she was under-prepared mentally in Marrakesh.
This year her wish has been granted, and she will be competing in the toughest tournament around – the Bermuda Bowl. There is no stage bigger than that. Best of luck to her and the rest of her team!
] 10 7
[J [9 } — }— {74 {9
]KJ643 [—
}—
]Q52
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: April 2025
Page: 7